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The whistleblower who unleashed the world’s largest ever stash of secret documents, known as the Panama Papers, has finally spoken out.

In a 1,800-word statement titled The Revolution Will Be Digitized, “John Doe” takes aim at income inequality, offshore money laundering and “massive, pervasive corruption.”

Mossack Fonseca headquarters Panama city: 'I decided to expose Mossack Fonseca because I thought its founders, employees and clients should have to answer for their roles in these crimes, only some of which have come to light thus far,' whistleblower John Doe writes. (ED GRIMALDO / AFP/GETTY IMAGES file photo)

Doe was behind the leak of 11.5 million documents belonging to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

“I decided to expose Mossack Fonseca because I thought its founders, employees and clients should have to answer for their roles in these crimes, only some of which have come to light thus far,” Doe writes. “It will take years, possibly decades, for the full extent of the firm’s sordid acts to become known.”

In the meantime, he says, there has already been meaningful change: “A new global debate has started, which is encouraging.

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“Unlike the polite rhetoric of yesteryear that carefully omitted any suggestion of wrongdoing by the elite, this debate focuses directly on what matters.”

Since their release last month, the Panama Papers have shaken international financial foundations with high-profile political resignations and scandals, police raids and heated debate about the diversion of money from national tax coffers to offshore shell accounts.

Yesterday, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a full frontal attack on international tax evasion, citing the Panama Papers as the trigger.

“In recent weeks, the disclosure of the so-called ‘Panama Papers’ — millions of leaked documents reportedly revealing the use of anonymous offshore shell companies — has brought the issues of illicit financial activity and tax evasion into the spotlight,” said a statement from the White House.

“The Panama Papers underscore the importance of the efforts the United States has taken domestically, and the efforts we have undertaken with our international partners, to address these shared challenges.”

A day before that, the Canada Revenue Agency filed a federal court application seeking an order that would compel the Royal Bank of Canada to reveal details of all clients with a connection to Mossack Fonseca.

Canada’s largest bank said it will not oppose the federal court application.

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In a candid affidavit filed in the application, a CRA official directly addresses a continuing tension in the debate over offshore movement of money: that the practice is legal and legitimate in many cases, and yet is often used to facilitate illegality.

“It is the experience of the CRA that Canadian taxpayers who hold, directly or indirectly or beneficially, property through an offshore entity or who may carry on business through an offshore entity, may not comply with their duties and obligations under the (Income Tax Act) and may not properly report,” the affidavit reads.

That grey area is richly detailed in the Panama Papers.

“The prevailing media narrative thus far has focused on the scandal of what is legal and allowed in this system,” John Doe writes. “What is allowed is, indeed, scandalous and must be changed.

“But we must not lose sight of another important fact: the law firm, its founders, and employees actually did knowingly violate myriad laws worldwide, repeatedly.”

Statement from Panama Papers whistleblower

In a written statement last month, Mossack Fonseca denied participating in illegal activities, saying that it ceases doing business with any criminals once it becomes aware of it.

The whistleblower provided the document dump to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung last year following an online conversation that began with this message to a reporter:

“Interested in secret data?”

The leak includes 11.5 million records including offshore corporate names, banking records, passport copies and emails.

The newspaper shared the material with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington last year

It, in turn, orchestrated the largest ever journalistic collaboration in history involving nearly 100 media organizations in 83 countries.

The Toronto Star and CBC-Radio Canada are the two Canadian partners in the Panama Papers investigation.

“For the record, I do not work for any government or intelligence agency, directly or as a contractor, and I never have,” John Doe writes.

“My viewpoint is entirely my own, as was my decision to share the documents with Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), not for any specific political purpose, but simply because I understood enough about their contents to realize the scale of the injustices they described.”

He says he would be prepared to provide the records to law enforcement around the world, but says he fears the backlash that has befallen other whistleblowers in his position including Edward Snowden, who remains exiled in Moscow because of the Obama administration’s threats to prosecute him under the U.S. Espionage Act.

“Legitimate whistleblowers who expose unquestionable wrongdoing, whether insiders or outsiders, deserve immunity from government retribution, full stop,” he writes.

“Until governments codify legal protections for whistleblowers into law, enforcement agencies will simply have to depend on their own resources or on-going global media coverage for documents.”

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